Health Secretary was 'minded' to close Northampton's Greencore factory had they not done it themselves 'voluntarily'

The decision to put Northampton on a Government Covid-19 watchlist and to 'voluntarily close' a Moulton Park sandwich factory hit by an outbreak of infections was swayed by the Health Secretary.

Northampton borough was today (August 21) escalated to the Government's "area of intervention" watch list over its Covid-19 infection rate.

At the same time, the Greencore UK factory in Moulton Park announced it would 'voluntarily close' and ask all staff and their direct households to self-isolate for two weeks after it reported an outbreak of 287 cases last week.

Now, it is understood the Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock took a significant role in today's developments.

Northamptonshire's director of public health Lucy Wightman was asked at a press conference today what had changed that meant Greencore had only now closed down when it could have done so last week.

Director Wightman said: "From the point of view of why now, it is a decision the secretary of state has taken. From our perspective that is the change.

"He was minded to close Greencore should they not have done so voluntarily - and I can't reinforce enough that they did so voluntarily, absolutely.

"Despite evidence that we were able to collate about the standards that they had maintained he felt it was a necessary step, and so they voluntarily did so.

"His second decision was the enforcement of a 14-day self isolation period for all of the employees."

Lucy Wightman also maintained that she had found Greencore to be "exemplary" in its handling of the situation.

It comes after a conference held last week where Mrs Wightman pointed to employees "car sharing, house sharing, and socialising outside of work hours" as the likely source of the outbreak.

The conference heard today that Northamptonshire recorded 334 new cases of coronavirus between 10 - 16 August. This means it has statistically recorded a "significantly higher rate" compared to the England average and is drive by the spike at Greencore.

Lucy Wightman said: "Although understandably in response to the Secretary's decision there is now a focus on Greencore there is still a fight we are fighting around Covid-19 around the county.

"Greencore has influenced our figures but Northampton was already on a watchlist and we need to make sure we identify where those cases are coming from."

The number of staff at Greencore that tested positive after initially testing negative during private testing in this month's outbreak is reportedly "still being assessed".

A statement on the Department of Health and Social Care's website reads: "

The factory will close voluntarily from today, and employees and their direct households will be required to isolate at home for two weeks. The Health and Social Care Secretary will introduce regulations to ensure that this self-isolation period is legally enforced. Anyone who leaves isolation prior to the two-week period ending, without reasonable excuse, will be subject to fines."